Monday, September 14, 2009

The Ugly.

There's a whole bucket of ugly in the yard right now. It's been a couple months since we've had any meaningful rain. There's some in the forecast for the weekend, but I've heard this story before.

Even with water from the hose, the Cardinal climber is turning brown. It's still covered in blooms.

These rudbeckia are about done. I really wanted to save seeds from this plant, but I think I'll just leave them alone. If volunteers sprout, so be it.

Even the melampodium have powdery mildew. Not surprising given that the humidity at 8am was 100%.

The dogwoods across the street are turning red way ahead of schedule. I'm thinking we're in for a long, but mild winter.

The pineapple sage is doing great. It's just coming into bloom now. The hose is watering the cabbage plants I set out a couple weeks ago.

Echinacea seeds were scattered this morning in the crape myrtle bed, a 50/50 blend of white and purple. I watered well. I'm hoping to have enough time on Tuesday to collect a bag of leaves and shred them for mulching this bed. It looks nasty and bare with the dead grass showing.

It's 81 and mostly sunny. 10% chance of rain all day. 90% chance the weatherman is right for a change.

Dead plants have become my new theme here in Iowa. The changing light, shorter days, and dry season is taking them out. My coneflowers are all brown, and sedum just died. Maybe you can get some rain and we can get some too.